Grant: Ron Washington rewarded for sticking by Texas Rangers bullpen

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Louis DeLuca/Staff Photographer

Texas' Elvis Andrus, Alex Rios, Ian Kinsler, Craig Gentry, Leonys Martin and Adrian Beltre celebrate after the final out in their 6-2 win during the Los Angeles Angels vs. the Texas Rangers major league baseball game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Sunday, September 29, 2013.

ARLINGTON — At the most critical moment of a week
filled with nothing but critical moments, Rangers manager Ron Washington did
what any manager would do: He stood by his best pitcher.

His best pitcher, it turns out, is a collective: The bullpen.

And so Sunday, season on the line, Washington pulled Yu Darvish in the sixth
inning.

The Rangers will have at least one extra game to play because of it. Doing
all the heavy lifting after Darvish ran into two-out trouble in the sixth, the
bullpen paved the way for a 6-2 win over Los Angeles in the regular season’s
162nd game. It has been this way throughout the Rangers’ seven-game winning
streak to the end of the season.

The Rangers needed every last one of those wins to force a tie with Tampa Bay
for the second wild card spot and force a tiebreaker game at 7:07 p.m. Monday in
Arlington. In all likelihood, the bullpen will be asked to work heavily
again.

“They have been terrific, absolutely terrific,” said third baseman Adrian
Beltre. “We’re not in the situation we are without them. They have been the
workhorses that have carried us the last 10 days.”

While the initial move appeared to backfire with Neal Cotts allowing a
game-tying two-out single to Josh Hamilton on a high, but not high enough,
two-strike fastball, it was the only blemish of the afternoon. With the Angels
soon involving their own bullpen, which was as big a reason as any they became
one of the highest-profile flops in MLB history, the Rangers figured there would
be more opportunities to score. And since their offense has turned suddenly
opportunistic, there were.

After Cotts allowed the game-tying single, he, special guest star Robbie Ross
and regular cast members Tanner Scheppers and Joe Nathan produced 31/3 scoreless
innings. Scheppers and Nathan were pitching for the fourth straight day. Over
the seven-game winning streak, the bullpen has permitted just 17 baserunners and
one run in 202/3 innings.

Washington later explained that he chose to employ the bullpen when he did
because Darvish had failed to put the Angels away immediately after the Rangers
had taken a 2-1 lead. Darvish had retired 11 in a row heading to the sixth and
had just been given a slim lead on Craig Gentry’s two-run single.

He immediately allowed a ground ball single to No. 9 hitter Austin Romine,
but erased him with a nifty double play turned by Ian Kinsler and Mitch
Moreland. But Erick Aybar followed with a single and Darvish walked dangerous
Mike Trout on four pitches. Darvish said after the game he was pitching around
Trout to face Hamilton. Washington decided that’s when he needed his heavily
worked bullpen to get 10 outs.

“He gave up a base hit, and he walked a guy,” Washington said. “I was afraid
of that Darvish-Hamilton matchup. I was only concerned about that moment. We get
that out right there, and I’ll worry about the rest later. We’ve gotten outs
from them all year.”

Yes, they have. If there was any question about where his confidence lies
with the Rangers playing the equivalent of one elimination game after another,
it is with his bullpen.

“We’ve been very consistent all year,” Nathan said. “There are always going
to be bumps in the road, but we’ve been a rock. We’ve been solid. I think it’s a
group he feels comfortable bringing in to get anybody out and keeping the game
in our control.”

Ross, who had fallen out of a key role in the bullpen with a late-summer
slide, has resurfaced in the final week with a hot hand. After the Rangers
re-took the lead in the bottom of the sixth, he allowed a leadoff single in the
seventh but closed out the inning by retiring the next three hitters.

Scheppers worked around a leadoff single by J.B. Shuck to start the eighth by
getting Aybar to hit over the top of a slider and bounce it back to the mound to
start a double play. Scheppers opted not to pitch around Trout and got a fly
ball to end his inning quickly. He threw just nine pitches and has just 36 over
his four-day travail. And Nathan pitched a perfect ninth despite a four-run
lead.

Four days in a row matches Nathan’s longest work streak.

Come Monday, if the Rangers season is to continue, he will have to enter
uncharted territory.

Can he do it? He would love a chance to find out. And Washington won’t
hesitate to ask him.

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